Parapets!

Cemetery in Gloucester by Edward Hopper

When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house, if anyone should fall from it.

 Deuteronomy 22:8

I don't know about you, but I am tired of hearing our government officials say they are offering their prayers and support after each mass shooting! I am not going to doubt the sincerity of their prayers, but I think they should keep their prayers private and work on making parapets!  They have the power to bring about stricter gun legislation to protect the country. But instead, they utter overarching sentiments about their prayers and "forever" support, sermonize about evil and "hearts without God". We don't need our government to philosophize about the origin of evil or look into the hearts of men, or even pray for us, but to first of all govern and govern with integrity and not act like demagogues and pander to powerful lobbyists. We need them to make and enforce laws to keep us safe, lest we be harmed (killed) by their cowardly inaction or desperate hold to power.

For the guilt of blood are upon those who fail to make parapets!

Mother's Day 2018

My daughters flew in from Chicago and New York respectively to celebrate Mother's Day a couple of weekends early. Just as well, as it would have been too hot in Dallas this weekend to serve their lovingly curated feast in our library with every window opened to let in the delightful afternoon breeze. 

Every treat was homemade, from the Victoria sponge cake to the smoked salmon sandwiches. Along with the scrumptious scones and sandwiches, there were Singaporean delights like kueh dada and kueh lapis, served in the yellow enamel tiffin carrier that my mother handed down to me.

My mother would have enjoyed this elaborate afternoon tea and been tickled pink at the finesse of her granddaughters' lavish spread. She would have rated it high above our regular afternoon tea spots like the Tanglin Club and the Goodwood Hotel in Singapore!

I am grateful on this Mother's Day for my mother and my daughters, for their undying love, influence, guidance and care, and for the beauty and joy they bring into my life!

Happy Mother's Day!

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7